Gas Turbine Engine : How Does It Works?

I am writing this article to share the knowledge that I gain on aircraft turbine engine whilst pursuing my study in aviation engineering. This article will give the readers some interesting facts on how gas turbine engine generates power for the aircraft to fly.

We take for granted how easily an aircraft weighing, over half a million pounds lifts off the ground with such ease. How does it happen? The answer is simple. It is engines.

WHAT IS A GAS TURBINE ENGINE?

When you go to an airport and see the commercial jets there, you can’t help but notice the huge engines that power them. Most commercial jets are powered by turbofan engines, and turbofans are one example of a general class of engines called gas turbine engines.

You may have never heard of gas turbine engines, but they are used in all kinds of un¬expected places. For example, many of the helicopters you see, a lot of smaller power plants and even the M-1 Tank use gas turbines. In today’s world, gas turbine engine is widely used to generate power. It is used not only for aircraft but it is also

used to power trains, ships, electrical generator and tanks. Gas turbine engine is a combustion engine that converts liquid fuels into mechanical energy. In this article, we will look at gas turbine engines to see how it operates! Let’s take a closer look at how they work!

A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in between.

HOW A GAS TURBINE ENGINE WORKS?

To understand in detail how gas turbo engine works, we need to know what does it constitutes of. Gas turbine engine is divided into five sections, namely intake section, compressor section, combustion section, turbine section and exhaust section.

So, how does a gas turbo engine operate? Intake section allows air as the working fluid to go to the compressor. The compressor will then compress the air into high pressure. Subsequently, the compressed air will go to the combustion chamber. Inside the combustion chamber, the energy is added by spraying the fuel and igniting it. This will produce high temperature and high velocity of gases. Some of the gases will convert into mechanical energy in the turbine sections that will provide energy for turbine to drive the compressor and output shaft. This will cause the compressor to sucks more air for the operations. The energy that is not used for shaft work comes out in the exhaust gases. The fluid with the high energy can be expanded in a nozzle section to produce a high velocity jet. In nozzle air will expand to surrounding pressure. Thus the process of producing high jet at outlet has become a self-sustainable. Then, we will get continuous supply of high velocity jet and thrust force to the aircraft.

I hope this article will give you some idea about how gas turbine engines operation for the aircraft. So, the next time you travel by air, you would understand how the aircraft operates.

Tawaran Khas untuk lepasan SPM/STPM/STAM/Diploma/Matrikulasi/Asasi Sempena Ulang Tahun ke 20 ICYM

1. Biasiswa Penginapan dan Pengangkutan bagi Program Diploma dan Ijazah
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